Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
A Book of Bridges: Here To There and Me To You
Illustrator: Celia Krampien
Nonfiction Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Sleeping Bear Press, 2017 ISBN: 978-1585369966
Most of us use a bridge to get from “here to there” on a regular basis. We don’t think too much about them and yet these structures, which are often beautiful and which sometimes have cultural and historical significance, are important.
In this book children will see that bridges come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, colors and formats. In their simplest form they can be a series of large stones placed in a stream so that people can walk or jump from one stone to another to get to the other side. Stones can also be used to create complex and beautiful bridges as well. Another simple bridge form are rope bridges, which sway from side to side when people use them.
Wooden bridges used to be very common, and in some parts of the world they still are. Some of these bridges are covered and these unique structures are often prized for their beauty. Nowadays we tend to build bridges out of metal, and when the span is a wide one we use suspension cables to hold the span up. These bigger bridges can connect neighborhoods or even countries.
Bridges can be multiuse structures, with some of them having decks for cars and trains, as well as lanes for people and bicycles. More recently people have started building bridges that are carpeted with grass and trees so that wildlife can safely cross highways.
Though all these bridges are wonderful and serve vital purposes, there is one kind of bridge that is even more important than the Gold Gate Bridge, or the London Bridge, or the Brooklyn Bridge.
This wonderful picture book will delight children who have a fondness for or an interest in bridges. For the book the author has written a lyrical main narrative, which is supplemented by additional factual sections of text. Gorgeous illustrations provide a lovely backdrop for the information that we are given. The book can therefore be enjoyed on several levels.
